13 August 2016

"Disguised as a breakthrough"

I wound up taking the body off the cart today so I could fix a few minor issues with the hastily screwed together creation. It wasn't poorly built but it was poorly thought out and I had to correct that because this thing is going to be supporting quite a bit of weight once the body is assembled completely.

Since I worked alone today, I had to come up with some sort of way to lift up the rear end without interfering with the body cart since I'd have to get it out from underneath the body once it was supported. I had a few options and took each under consideration - but wound up going with the last/least likely to work option. Screw two 2" x 4" scraps to a 2"x6", set - well, 'balance", really - on top of my saw horse, then screw the wood blocks to the body once I'd lifted the body and got it all underneath. Not a great way to do it but it worked.

This is the view from the rear. It looks a hell of a lot more stable than it was - I didn't really think it was going to work and prepared myself for having to figure out how to pick it back up once it slid off of the saw horse.

Fortunately, that didn't happen.

This was my solution for the front end - much lighter but I knew that with one semi-sketchy support on the back that I'd need to use two up front or this thing would rock like a boat in choppy seas and I didn't want to risk it falling.

I stared at it for a good 5 minutes until I realized that I could use the bumper brackets. I'm not proud of how long it took but I am happy that it worked out.

The rebuild of the body cart got the rear bushings in the right place without wood blocks.

The front end is now level with the rear end which should make it more stable.

By the end of the day - the cart was finished, the body was put back on the cart without incident, the pan was attached, a cart for the rebuilt transmission was assembled (and the drums installed). I installed the rear seat and put the pieces of the front seats inside. The glove box and door were installed as was the ashtray. I was able to get Ospho on most of the bare metal - I have the inner side of the rear hatch to get done. Next time I get to the car, I'll have the glass installed. There shouldn't be much more to do after that point but get the interior closed up a little bit better.

I've started packing and plan to ship parts next week - to reduce the amount of parts to be shipped with the body. 90-95% of the parts are collected and ready to either go into the car or in a box for shipping.

I also spent about an hour cleaning the garage and rearranging stuff now that some bulky things are departing. I think things will clean up nicely.